By Fatou Sillah
The National Assembly Member for Kiang West, Hon. Lamin Ceesay, has called on the President to take decisive action over the ongoing electricity crisis, urging him to hold the leadership of the National Water and Electricity Company (NAWEC) accountable for what he described as a failure in service delivery.
Ceesay made these remarks during a parliamentary debate on a matter of urgent public importance concerning the country’s persistent power outages.
“The President does not sit at NAWEC, but he appoints those who do,” Ceesay stated. “He has the authority to appoint the Board of Directors and the Managing Director. If they fail in their responsibilities, the President should remove them.”
He emphasized that challenges in electricity generation and distribution do not arise suddenly but rather develop over time with clear warning signs that require timely intervention.
“Power generation and distribution do not deteriorate overnight; there are always warning signs that tell you the status of your system,” he said. “So on that note, it requires proactive maintenance, periodic risk assessment, and good investment in the infrastructure.”
Describing the situation as a “total management failure,” Ceesay insisted that responsibility must be assigned. “Honourable Speaker, someone must be held accountable,” he added.
The lawmaker further highlighted the widespread impact of the power outages, noting that essential services and livelihoods across the country are being severely disrupted.
“Schools are suffering; the hospitals, households, and women market vendors who have refrigerators at the markets are not getting light. We cannot downplay this,” he said.
Ceesay also criticized the implementation of scheduled load shedding, describing it as unacceptable in a modern society.
“What makes it more painful in these modern days for our utility to go out and start a schedule for load shedding? No matter how you stand here to defend this, you cannot defend this; this is a disaster in any modern country,” he said.
He urged authorities to prioritize restoring a stable electricity supply rather than attempting to justify the ongoing crisis, warning that the situation reflects poor service delivery and governance.
“Even if it is a day you should rush to ensure that you work healthier to ensure the electricity system is restored, but not to justify this; this cannot be justified. Irresponsibility, people must blame you for it. People are not getting light; that is the reality. All of you are suffering, but you will defend it because of the political interest,” he said.
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